Top Tips for What You Can Do with Your Dog in Winter
Winter is a beautiful time of year, but we often find we lack both the energy and the will to go outside in the bad weather. Our four-legged friends, on the other hand, don’t share our feelings. All they know is that they want to run, jump, and play, regardless of the season. This can make it difficult to keep our pets active and entertained throughout the cold winter months. So, in today’s article, we’ll give you some tips and advice on how to entertain your dog in winter.
Whether you live in a particularly cold country or not, you might find these tips useful. After all, you can have rainy days even in tropical climates.
What can you do with your dog in winter?
Grab your coat!
Just because it’s cold, doesn’t mean you can’t go outside. So, if you often get snow where you live, grab your coat, make sure your dog is warm enough, and get outside to play. Dogs love the snow. They see it as a huge playground where they can explore and go on new adventures.
So, buy your dog a little coat, rub vaseline on its paws to stop them from cracking, and go out and enjoy that fresh dusting of snow and frost.
If you don’t like running, you can simply go for a relaxing stroll. Just remember to wrap up warm.
Buy new toys
There’s no better time to buy new toys than when your dog is bored. Whether they like them or not, they’re sure to grab them and play with them out of sheer curiosity.
With any luck, this will help keep them entertained for longer. You could buy them a few Kong toys, which you can fill with food or treats. Your dog has to work hard to get the food, keeping it entertained for hours on end.
Book some training classes
No matter how hard you try, you probably won’t do as much exercise in winter as you normally would. So, if you’ve been thinking about taking your dog to training classes, there really is no better time of year to do it.
Book some training classes, and your dog will have a great place to burn off energy, get some exercise, and learn how to behave properly at the same time.
Attend social events
In spite of the cold, there is usually no shortage of winter festivals and markets which are perfect for dogs. Take yours, and watch it enjoy the wave of new smells, colors and people.
Teach them tricks
This is a great way to kill boredom – both yours and your dog’s. You can teach your dog to sit, shake, lie down, drop something it has in its mouth, or anything else that comes to mind.
If your dog was bored before you decided to start teaching it tricks, it’ll probably see it as a game, and will be more likely to pay attention.
Playing indoors in winter
There are lots of games you can play in and around the house, such as hide-and-seek. You can hide and wait for your dog to come and find you, or hide treats around the house to see how many your dog can find. You could even invite a friend and their dog round, so that you can all spend a winter’s afternoon together.
As you can see, there are plenty of things for you and your dog to do together, even when the weather is at its worst. It’s a great time of year to bond with your dog.
Remember, no matter what the time of year, your dog still needs plenty of exercise to keep it happy and healthy.